The Cal State San Bernardino men’s basketball team is looking for a share of the CCAA championship for the ninth time in 11 years. But the Coyotes (5-3, 3-1) are going to have their hands full this time around.

All 12 teams are just anywhere from four to six games into their 22-game CCAA slate and yet there are no unbeatens left. The Coyotes are among the five teams with one loss, with the loss coming Sunday at Cal State Stanislaus, 70-68.

Cal State coach Jeff Oliver said his team’s loss was worse than Cal Poly Pomona’s 72-70 overtime loss at Chico State even though the Broncos blew an 18-point lead.

“They lost to a pretty good team. We lost to Stanislaus, and that’s not supposed to happen,” Oliver said. “Our guys did not respect Stanislaus and we haven’t done enough yet to go down that road. Their heads and hearts just weren’t in the game.”

The Coyotes had three chances at the tying or winning basket in the closing seconds but all attempts went awry.

He also questioned the officiating, but said he has taken that up with the proper authorities. He was particularly upset that one let Stanislaus take free throws when he had not yet subbed for a player who had to be taken out of the game because he was bleeding.

“The officiating was horrendous, but it’s not the reason we lost,” he said. “We lost because we couldn’t make shots at the end or free throws. So it was our own fault.”

The Coyotes will look to get back on track when they host Humboldt State on Friday and Sonoma State on Saturday at Coussoulis Arena.

The home games are particularly important because they will play eight of their last 12 conference games on the road, including two back-to-back sets against Northern teams.

The University of Redlands swimming teams are gearing up for the heart of their seasons.

Next up for the Bulldogs is a 10:30 a.m. Saturday dual meet against Caltech. The biggest meet of the season will be the last – Feb. 6 against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.

“Up until now it’s been pretty much just training and we haven’t had the whole team together,” coach Leslie Whittemore says. “Now we’re going into meet mode.”

The Bulldogs finished second to CMS last year in the SCIAC on both the men’s and women’s sides.

The team was bolstered by the addition of six swimmers last week – four returning from stints studying abroad and two others who transferred in.

Among the newcomers is sophomore Collin Gladys, who came to the school on the recommendation of friend Miran Terzic, a junior who swims and plays water polo for the Bulldogs. Whittemore said Gladys will bolster the team in the breastroke and individual medley events, both areas where the team lacked depth last season.

The men’s team also has an impressive freshman in Chris Depew, who excels in the butterfly and individual medley events.

On the women’s side, Whittemore is encouraged by the showing of freshman Allie Bollella, a versatile freestyle specialist. Juniors Kelley Cooper (breastroke/butterfly) and Jo Navarro (breastroke) are among the core of swimmers returning from abroad.

“We have a lot of depth and we have eight to 10 freshmen that could turn out better than some of the returning swimmers. That’s promising,” she said.

Two Victor Valley College soccer players are following their former teammates as defender Richard Gonzalez and midfielder Abraham Alvarez are headed to NAIA Kansas Wesleyan.

Rams coach Mike Bradbury is close friends with the school’s head coach, Mike Dibbini, and a pipeline has developed from one school to the other. This year Kansas Wesleyan had four women and two men from Victor Valley in its soccer programs.

Gonzalez, out of Barstow High School, recorded one goal and one assist this season and Alvarez, out of Apple Valley High School, managed one goal.

Dibbini traveled to Southern California for signing festivities for both players last month. He has been successful in landing players from other parts of California as well.

“Our kids have gone out there and they love it,” said Bradbury, who just finished his second year heading both the men’s and women’s programs at Victor Valley. “The men’s team was one game away from playing for a national championship, so it’s a strong program and I trust the coaching staff there with my players.”

The San Bernardino Valley College men moved up a spot to No. 4 in the newest state poll released on Monday. The Wolverines (14-2) trail San Francisco (14-1), Irvine Valley (15-1) and Citrus (14-2).

Coach Quincy Brewer’s team beat San Francisco but lost to Irvine, both in earlier tournaments.

The rankings include three Foothill Conference teams, with Chaffey at No. 13 and Mt. San Jacinto at No. 15. Also, Riverside (12-4) checked in at No. 7, with Mt. SAC, the other team that defeated SBVC, at No. 10.

SBVC opens Foothill Conference play on Wednesday against Antelope Valley. The women’s game between the same schools will start at 5 p.m, with the men’s game following.

Both the University of Redlands tennis teams have landed among the best in NCAA Division III, according to the ITA/Campbell’s Preseason College rankings.

The women checked in at No. 9 after going 17-7 in 2009. They also are ranked second in the West Region, returning all but two starters.

The men, 19-9 a year ago, will start the season ranked No. 11 in the country and No. 3 in the West. The men will play 14 nationally ranked teams, including West region rival UC Santa Cruz, which is No. 1.

Michelle Gardner has covered high school sports and local colleges for the Daily Bulletin and Sun since 2002. She previously covered a wide variety of sports from the high school level to the professional ranks in Florida with tenures at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Naples Daily News and the Fort Myers News-Press and is graduate of the University of Florida.

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If results of last weekend’s men’s basketball games are an indication of things to come, the race for the CCAA title will be up for grabs.

Three teams started the weekend without a conference loss, but all were dealt one. Cal State San Bernardino downed Chico State in a head-to-head meeting. But then the Coyotes lost to Cal State Stanislaus.

Cal Poly Pomona was upended in overtime 72-70 the same day after blowing an 18-point lead.

There are no unbeatens left barely halfway through the first round of play. Five teams all have one loss.

“I still think Humboldt is the team to beat,” Broncos coach Greg Kamansky said. “But teams are going to beat each other up all the way. It will be who survives.”

It was indeed a tough weekend for the Broncos (5-2, 3-1), who were lucky to win the previous night. Cal Poly beat Stanislaus 51-50 only because a last-second shot by the Warriors was off the mark.

Depth proved to be a factor on the second night of back-to-backs. Austin Swift and Dahir Nasser fouled out. The Broncos, who have only 10 players on their roster and regularly use just eight, had a 14-point lead with four minutes left but ran out of gas.

“Austin, Dahir and Donnelle (Booker) played so hard for so many minutes they were running on fumes by the end of the game,” Kamansky said. “Our depth was definitely an issue, but it’s something we’re going to have to deal with.”

The Broncos will be looking to bounce back this weekend when the they host Humboldt State and Sonoma State. Winning the home games will loom large because the Broncos will play nine of their last 13 games on the road.

The Pomona-Pitzer men’s basketball team had quite the nonconference tuneup Saturday. The Sagehens went four overtimes before falling to No. 8 Wheaton (Ill.), 102-100. It was the longest game veteran head coach Charlie Katsiaficas remembers.

“Maybe somewhere along the line we went three but I don’t remember going four,” he said. “Certainly we were in every situation you could be in. Up in overtime, down in overtime, had to foul.”

Katsiaficas is hoping that experience will pay off as his team starts SCIAC play this week.

“There’s no way to replicate that kind of pressure or those situations in practice,” he said. “There is no substitute for experience and having been in those situations.”

The Sagehens (4-6) trailed 101-97 in the final extra period but David Liss hit a 3-pointer with 17 seconds left to cut the deficit to one. The Sagehens then had to foul and Wheaton’s Andrew Jahn’s made one of two free throws to put the lead back to two.

The Sagehens had the last shot, but a 3-point attempt by Justin Sexton was off the mark, as was the putback by Shawn Stephan.

With the holidays now over, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps swimming team is gearing up for its biggest conference meets. Both the Stags and the Athenas are the defending SCIAC champions.

The team hasn’t had enough meets for coach Charlie Griffiths to see where his team stands, but he said the times for most returning swimmers are better than they were at this time last year.

“This is now where we start with the hard training,” he said. “Our comparative times are better and that’s a good sign.”

Griffiths singled out the women’s 200 medley relay that finished fifth nationally last season. The 400 medley, consisting of the same swimmers, was fourth. That quartet included juniors Jenni Rinker (backstroke) and Annie Perizzolo and sophomores Katie Bilotti (butterfly) and Emma Jones (freestyle).

The coach added that those relays are not necessarily going to be the same this season with several newcomers pushing for spots.

“It’s a good problem to have because it shows how much depth and quality we have,” Griffiths said.

CMS will take on NAIA power Cal Baptist on Friday. It resumes SCIAC competition the following day when it hosts Whittier in a 10 a.m. dual meet.

Cal Poly Pomona junior guard Reyana Colson has been named CCAA Player of the Week for the second time this season.

The Compton native helped the Broncos to victories over Cal State Stanislaus and Chico State. She averaged 18 points, 7.5 rebounds, four assists and 1.5 steals.

In the 58-52 victory over Cal State Stanislaus on Saturday, Colson scored a team-high 20 points and collected eight rebounds, four assists and a steal. She followed that effort with 16 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals in the Broncos’ 65-63 victory over Chico State.

The two weekend performances extended her streak of double-digit scoring games to 33 and marked the 55th time in 61 career games she has scored at least 10 points.

The Chaffey College men’s basketball team remained at No. 13 in the new state poll released Monday. The Panthers (9-4) are one of three Foothill Conference teams to land in the top 15, with San Bernardino (14-2) at No. 4 and Mt. San Jacinto (10-5) at No. 15.

The state poll also includes Citrus (14-2) at No. 3, Mt. SAC (14-4) at No. 10 and Riverside (12-4) at No. 7.

The Panthers are No. 8 in the South poll. They open conference play at 7 p.m. Wednesday at home against much-improved Barstow.

Michelle Gardner has covered high school sports and local colleges for the Daily Bulletin and Sun since 2002. She previously covered a wide variety of sports from the high school level to the professional ranks in Florida with tenures at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Naples Daily News and the Fort Myers News-Press and is graduate of the University of Florida.

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If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.